Luton boss thought he looked like a 'mad man' during final stages of Sunderland victory

Luton boss Rob Edwards thought he probably resembled something of a ‘mad man’ during the closing stages of their 2-0 play-off success against Sunderland on Tuesday night.

After a first half in which the Hatters not only wiped out the single goal deficit from Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at the Stadium of Light thanks to Gabe Osho’s close range finish, but go on to lead 3-2 in the tie themselves, when Tom Lockyer headed in Alfie Doughty’s delivery, Town then set about trying to add to their lead in the second 45.

They could and should have done so too, Jordan Clark missing a glorious chance when picking up keeper Anthony Patterson’s dreadful clearance, with Luton seeing another effort headed from the line, before Elijah Adebayo put a header over the top and then didn’t get a shot off in time when released by Carlton Morris.

It meant that although Sunderland only had one real effort on target all night, Ethan Horvath making a stunning save from Adebayo's attempted clearance in the first half, with Patrick Roberts, Jack Clarke and Amad Diallo on the field, they would always be a threat, although it never materialised, any real shots coming from range.

When four minutes of stoppage time were added by Premier League official Simon Hooper, that becoming nearer six, asked what his emotions were like in the dug-out, knowing the hosts were closing in on what could be a historic day at Wembley later this month, Edwards said: “Try to stay calm, it’s difficult in those moments, your heart’s going, it’s racing and there’s a lot going on in those moments.

"You know how close, you feel how close we are, but to be honest, there's not that much we can do at that point.

"It’s so loud, the players can't hear us anyway, you’re jumping around and waving your arms about like a mad man, but probably having no effect at all.

"So try and stay calm, but if I watch myself back, whether I was or not, I don’t know.”

Wingback Cody Drameh could have eased all those tensions in stoppage time, as with Patterson sent up for a corner, it was cleared by Osho.

Determined not it run out for a throw, Lockyer managed to propel the ball up the line, sending the Leeds United loanee sprinting away towards an unguarded net with just Roberts back and Doughty screaming for the ball to his left.

However, rather than draw the last man and play in his fellow wingback, Drameh eventually went for goal, only to end up sidefooting tamely wide, as Edwards said: “If he’d have rolled that one in it would have been nice.

"We still had another minute or so to age a couple of years and I think I did, but we can laugh about it kind of now.”

Centre half Osho himself said: “Second half we could have got a couple more goals, I don’t know what Cody was doing, I’m just really happy at the moment.

“Yes, he ran, he did so well to get there, that’s all I’m saying!”

Despite Luton looking out on their feet in those closing stages, Edwards only opted to make one substitution, that bringing Scottish international Allan Campbell on for Jordan Clark with seven minutes to go, adding some fresh legs in the middle of the park.

He added: “It takes everyone, they’re all delighted for each other in there.

"We brought Allan Campbell on, we weren’t able to make too many subs tonight, we didn’t think loads needed changing.

"Everyone was in the game, but they’re all one, they’ve all got a common goal now, we all want to try and achieve something together.”